1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a manual trash compactor that has a bottom support. This manual trash compactor also contains an additional adjustable arm to help a lever arm keep a piston arm driving into a closed end of a garbage can.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manual trash compactors are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,047 to Lindsey discloses a manual trash compactor having a lever 17 and a grip handle 20. The lever is connected to a piston arm 23 and a compacting plate 24. Piston 17 connects to the garbage can via a pivot arm 16 that extends out from the garbage can. This pivot arm is unlike the adjustable hinge in the present invention because the pivot arm does not move.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,094 to Shontz discloses a manual trash compactor for a circular shaped garbage can. The manual trash compactor contains a lever 15 and an adjustable hinge formed by L-shaped lever handle 15 pivoting around pin 43. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,932 to Basuino discloses a manually operated garbage compacting press which attaches to a wall on plate 18 and swings out via hinges 17. This design contains lever arm 22 which is connected to a piston 13 in its uppermost position. In both of these cases, these compactors do not contain a hinge that is attached to an edge of a garbage can.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,718 to Adornetto discloses a trash compactor attachment for a manual trash compactor. This trash compactor attachment is for compacting trash or garbage deposited therein. The compactor attachment includes a piston 45 with a head 46 for pressing against the deposited trash and a lever 60 arrangement for applying successive increments of pressure to the piston to compact the trash or garbage engaged by the head. However this invention does not disclose an adjustable hinge disposed on an edge of a top surface of a trash can.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,374 to Klepaki discloses a trash receptacle compactor for compacting trash in a trash receptacle enclosed in a housing including a piston disposed within the housing in alignment with the trash receptacle, and a lever means outside of the housing and interconnected with the piston for selectively operating the piston to compact trash within the receptacle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,128,055 and 4,050,373 to Hellmann discloses a manual trash compactor having a compacting head that corresponds to the bottom plate in the present invention. In addition piston corresponds to the push rod in the present invention. However, this patent does not disclose a lever arm, or an adjustable hinge disposed on an edge of the garbage can. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,567 to Fischer discloses a manual trash compactor that is wall mounted and has a piston disposed within a piston guide located on the wall.
While the prior art shows a manual trash compactor having a lever arm that rotates on a hinge, the prior art does not show an adjustable arm disposed on an edge of the garbage can that is used to center the piston and a compacting plate when compacting the garbage. Therefore the design of the present invention is novel over the prior art.